Letter to the Editor: A Letter Concerning Debbie Stabenow
September 24, 2018
I have serious concerns that a senator with 17 years in office has produced so little for the state of Michigan. Stabenow voted with the Democratic Party 97.5 percent of the time.
In 2009 Stabenow voted for President Obama’s $787 Billion Dollar Stimulus plan. In 2008 she voted against the bailout proposed by President Bush. This bill was to create shovel ready jobs but produced no jobs at all. In October 2011, Stabenow called for tax breaks for firms developing bio-based products, using crops like soybeans and corn to create prescriptions drugs, plastics, and soaps.
Supports Open Boarders: Stabenow has received high marks from groups supporting increased immigration and amnesty (American Immigration Lawyers Association, National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, and low marks from groups opposed to illegal immigration: Federation for American Immigration Reform, Numbers USA. In January 2017, she opposed Trump’s executive order temporarily limiting immigration from several Muslim majority countries, saying it “is ruining America’s reputation in the world, undermining our relationships with our most critical allies, and most heartbreakingly, destroying the lives of good and law-abiding people. Stabenow supported Obama’s Iran deal
She has received low scores from low-spending advocates (Club for Growth, Council for Citizens against Government Waste, National Taxpayers Union.
Debbie Stabenow is against the 2nd Amendment: After the Orlando nightclub shooting, Stabenow participated in the Chris Murphy gun control filibuster. One month later, she supported Democrat proposed bills to ban people on the terrorist watch list from buying guns and to expand background checks. Neither bill passed the Senate. Stabenow blamed the NRA for the bills’ failure to pass.
Debbie Stabenow has been trying to lower Drug prices for over 17 years without major results: In the 2000 campaign she “promised to make the pharmaceutical industry lower prescription drug prices, to maintain Social Security benefits and to give Medicare a new prescription drug plan.” She pledged to “fight the pharmaceutical and insurance industries – the two industries that spend the most money lobbying federal officials” and accused the pharmaceutical industry of “making up to 20 percent net profit each year…on the backs of families, seniors and
She supported the Paris Climate Accord: On August 10, 2009, Stabenow was reported by The Detroit News as saying “Global warming creates volatility. I feel it when I’m flying. The storms are more volatile. We are paying the price in more hurricanes and tornadoes.” She has, however, opposed regulation of greenhouse gases, enhanced fuel efficiency standards in California, and greenhouse gas emission reporting standards.
Debbie Stabenow supports Judges who legislate from the bench: She opposed Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court: “After reviewing Judge Gorsuch’s rulings, it is clear that he has a long record of siding with special interests and institutions instead of hard-working Americans. And, therefore, in my judgment, he does not meet this standard of balance and impartiality. Debbie Stabenow ties with Dow and Kellogg’s.
Stabenow has been targeted in her state for her role, as Senate Agriculture Committee Chair, in adding an amendment to the 2013-14 Farm Bill that prohibited state laws requiring labeling for foods containing GMOs. She has been called a “Monsanto mouthpiece” because this amendment aided Monsanto and other agribusinesses, which donated over three-quarters of a million dollars to her campaign during that election cycle.In 2016 she was criticized again for her role in the passage of a law that overruled state laws mandating GMO labeling. “The legislation is a gift to the pesticide and food industries who make and sell GMOs,” wrote David Bronner in the Huffington Post.
Her enthusiasm for this legislation was tied to her acceptance of campaign contributions from Michigan-based Kellogg’s and Dow Chemical.
It is time for a change. We need John James to represent Michigan.
Donald Vescoso
Manchester
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Because of the proximity to the election, the last day the Manchester Mirror will accept pre-election letters to the editor on the topic of the November 6th election is Saturday, October 20th.
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